We’ll say one thing about our fellow New Yorkers: They’re not afraid of sharing their opinion. As the heinous Westboro Baptist Church readies for a scheduled protest in Times Square, a counter-protest has already lined up more than 2,500 volunteers.

“I was surprised we got that many invites in such a short period,” organizer Kenneth Woodhouse told Next Magazine. “It was just leapfrog really.”

He says he’s not the type of person who typically jumps onto bandwagons on social media, but when he saw that Westboro Baptist was planning on picketing the Sandy Hook victim’s funerals, he decided he needed to do something tangible.

“I had gone onto their page, just to go back again and I went through all of their videos,” he explains. “When I saw that they’re going to be in New York City, I thought, ‘you know, I can sit here and I can write and I can kvetch all I want, but it’s not going to do any good.”

The counter-demonstration, which will begin at 4pm today at 42nd Street and Broadway, will be somewhat low-key.

“My idea is to just really obliterate them in anonymity,” explains Woodhouse. “To just have three rows of people around them so that the police can’t see them, the media can’t see them.”

We could probably just bury them in Elmo and Hello Kitty impersonators.

Do to them what we did with a Nazi protest in Chicago 30+ years ago. Chicago is full of Poles, Jews, blacks and gays (favorite Nazi targets), there were 8 Nazis and THOUSANDS of other people surrounding them. Not as funny as the Blues Bros re-enactment, but they got the point.

Jan 18, 2013 at 7:49 am · @Reply ·

EdWoody

A lot of people in New York have guns. Just saying.

Jan 18, 2013 at 8:33 am · @Reply ·

Dakotahgeo

Hide them into obscurity, lolol. Teach them a “lesson” they won’t soon forget… PRONTO!!!

Jan 18, 2013 at 9:43 am · @Reply ·

Aidan8

I love the idea of “obliterating them with anonymity.” That’s a powerful and perfect response to these cretins. Don’t engage them… just do everything to reduce their visibility. Wish I could be there today.

Jan 18, 2013 at 10:55 am · @Reply ·

2eo

The best way would be to just murder them and disperse into the crowd, rendering identifying the culprits impossible.

It’s a shame people just won’t kill people who deserve to be murdered.

Jan 18, 2013 at 10:58 am · @Reply ·

Dakotahgeo

@EdWoody: And they know how to use them and they’re not scared to use them! Hopefully, they will exercise their Constitutional rights and use them!

Jan 18, 2013 at 11:13 am · @Reply ·

rinkymo

WBC are fierce. I like them.

Jan 18, 2013 at 12:44 pm · @Reply ·

Tommysole

I for one cannot wait until I die, so I can ask God, to his or her face, “if you hate fags, why did you create us?”

My name is Dana Pille, I am a Gay American Christian Male. The last decade we have seen many great advances for the Gays of America, but some of our brothers and sisters still suffer in other parts of the world. The most recent that comes to mind are those in Uganda. Monsters like scott lively are preaching that the “Gay Agenda” is to make pedophilia legal worldwide. He claims that Gay’s are molesting 12 year old boys to grow an army of homosexuals bent to destroy all civilized cultures. I’m writing today to ask for your support in holding monsters like scott responsible for their grotesquely false accusations. If someone began preaching that the Baptist Agenda was to protest funerals, they would be sued by every Baptist Church in this Country, except Westboro. It’s time to stand up for ourselves and our brothers and sisters throughout the world. Please sign my petition to sue scott lively for his Defamation against the Gay’s. http://www.thepetitionsite.com/436/069/569/sue-scott-lively-for-his-defamation-against-gays/

There are over 100 anti-gay groups in America. The Southern Poverty Law Center lists only 10 as hate groups. Three of the 10 groups were started by scott lively. The SPLC has been in the business of watching hate groups and informing the public of their activities for the last 25 years, and when necessary taking these groups to court. The SPLC is very rigorous in their search for hate groups, and they do not call groups, haters at the drop of a hat. Westboro Baptists is also on the list as a hate group, unfortunately, we have no laws concerning hate groups. I propose a law not allowing hate groups to hold a 501(c)3 Charity Status. Charity should be about helping others, and NOT spreading hate. Why should tax payers subsidize hate? Please also sign my other petition to stop the funding for hate groups. http://www.thepetitionsite.com/783/478/762/stop-the-funding-for-hate-groups/

Some Christians want the world to believe that homosexuality is the only abomination written about in the Bible. The truth of the matter is that there are many abominations, including eating crustaceans, wearing clothing made from two types of materials, and adultery. Our society has grown away from many of the outdated teachings of the Bible, and the world has not ended. To believe that God will end the world if we allow Gay’s to marry is pure nonsense. In my mind it would be a far greater sin for me to marry a woman and pretend to love her, than it is for me to live my life as a normal Gay man.

My sincere Thanks for taking your time to read this, and I pray we can stand together and fight this hatred and bigotry to make this a better world for all of us to live in.

@2eo: Yikes, 2eo! You do know this is the kind of talk that people think should’ve got James Holmes locked up before the massacre, right? Not that some of us aren’t thinking the same thing, but you should be aware that when you get in front of a computer it’s not just in your head anymore.

Jan 18, 2013 at 4:58 pm · @Reply ·

2eo

@DuMaurier: I condone their killing absolutely and completely, there’s no impulsive notion or mental illness behind it, there is nothing but a complete balanced and accurate belief that the world will be better when they have their children removed and are then executed.

Jan 18, 2013 at 6:05 pm · @Reply ·

rinkymo

@2eo: Good God – are we so fucking boring now that we cannot recognize the pop cultural magnificence of this hillbilly church that have managed to piss off everyone from the GLAAD to the KKK?

Jan 18, 2013 at 6:27 pm · @Reply ·

LadyL

@Tommysole: I predict God’s response will be to look at you mystified and say “Who on earth told you I hate gays?” (God’s too nice to say the f-word.)

Jan 18, 2013 at 7:12 pm · @Reply ·

Stache1

@2eo: It’s sad but I agree with you. They’ve been pissing on the right people as people they believe won’t fight back. Now if they were to take on say the blacks or Italian Americans then hell yes they’d of been wacked long ago and we wouldn’t be having this discussion in 2013.

Jan 19, 2013 at 1:45 pm · @Reply ·

SkeeterVT

Westboro Baptist Church is neither Baptist nor is it a church. It is, in fact, a tightly-controlled CULT made up entirely of relatives and in-laws of its iron-fisted leader, Fred Phelps.

Westboro was, in fact, expelled from the Southern Baptist Convention — certainly no fan of LGBT people — in 1991 over its extremist interpretations of the Bible and for its exclusively Phelps family membership. Westboro and the SBC have been at war with each other ever sincehas been at war with the SBC ever since.

That the media continue to refer to Westboro as a “church” is at once misleading and irresponsible. The time is long overdue to refer to Westboro as the hatemongering anti-Christian cult that it really is.

Jan 21, 2013 at 4:54 am · @Reply ·

Tonee

@2eo: Unfortunately that’s been tried before. They’ve been shot at & have been bombed, but they’re still here. There’s better ways than killing them anyways cause we don’t want them to end up martyrs. I like what these counter-protesters are doing. I think they’ll all die out eventually anyways cause I can’t see too many “outsiders” wanting to be a part of the WBC. They’re so bad that even the KKK hates them & we all know what that group’s about. The 1s I feel the sorriest for is the kids cause they’ve got no choice in who they have as family. All I can do is hope that once they’re grown they’ll do like Nate Phelps did & leave all that hatred behind them.